Journal

My Journal provides an overview into the work and creativity of being a designer, author, cartoonist, and illustrator.

Journal

Preparing for Inktober 2018

Preparing for Inktober 2018 Illustration by Kris Black

In October 2016 and 2017, I participated in Inktober, a month-long art challenge posting inked drawings online every day. Artists most commonly share their art on Instagram. This year I'm bringing back my comic strip characters I created for Inktober 2017, and the plan is to post all 31 days of October.

What happened in 2017?

I’ll be honest, I didn’t make it through the entire month in 2017 posting my comic strips every day. I have no excuse other than I didn't prioritize my time well. This year will be different as I'm prepared to make it happen all 31 days.

My Plan for Inktober 2018

For Inktober, I use the official prompt words published by Jake Parker, the creator of Inktober. I like that idea a lot as it gives me direction and a place to start each day. I plan to continue with this strategy for 2018.

This year, I created a template file in my preferred drawing app, Procreate, on my iPad Pro. The template file uses a four panel, square layout for each strip like my strips from 2017. I added several default layers to the template for the way I create art. The template will help speed up the creation of my strips helping me get from a blank page to a shared post as quick as possible.

Meet My Inktober Comic Strip Characters

I created two stylized stick figures for Inktober 2017. I had two reasons for creating stick figure characters for my Inktober comic strip.

Stick figures are simple and quick to draw.

Simplifying the art allows more time to write the strip.

I never named the little guys, but I came to love how their personalities unfolded each day. I'm wondering if I can come up with names for the characters and possibly a name for their strip this year. As I share my work online, maybe I can get some help from my community of followers to help with naming the characters and comic strip.

What I Hope To Get Out Of Inktober

One of my goals for my illustration is to share my work online. Inktober is the perfect opportunity to share online and reach a broader audience on social media. I've not actively participated in social media for months. In fact, I removed Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook from my mobile devices to keep my focus and attention on other pursuits.

It's now time to reinstall social media apps on my devices and Reengage with my community of followers.

Do you participate in Inktober? Share a link to your work in the comments.